indyfabz

There is plenty of dirt out there, especially in the west. Country wide, the mileage of U.S. Forest Service Roads dwarfs the mileage of the Interstate Highway System by roughly a factor of three, with the vast majority of that mileage being unpaved. Look up the Great Divide Mountain Bike Route. Canada to the Mexican border. It's mostly unpaved. People have done the route on the same bike I have. As I noted earlier, 36H rims. My previous set wore out from use as I use the bike to commute with as well as tour. And it's an urban commute, which entails at least slowing down (if not stopping) at intersections every 500' or so.

A touring bike like the LHT (You can see the full geometry on Surly's website) is always going to present compromises over something like a road bike, but I am not out to set any speed records. It's a good enough bike for what I like to do. And drop bars are not a problem on dirt. I have seen participants in the yearly Great Divide race using them.

mr_bill

The summer picture is taken a few yards further. If the sign wasn't in shadow from the damaged tree, its shadow would be in the summer pic.

Some autumn shots. The first shot is practice for The Head of the Charles Regatta:



It’s not often you get a wedding shoot on the Somerville Community Path on a rainy fall day:



Flip side, border of Somerville Community Path and Alewife Linear Path, Somerville/Cambridge Line. Note how many Hubway (now BlueBike) bikes are checked out:



Yes, it gets windy here (Chicago is less windy than Boston), the map banner is you are here:



Clean up after the storm, also Minuteman:


-mr. bill

mjac

Great Pictures, Great Scenes, Great Settings, keep them coming. Especially Sunrises, Sunsets and Fall Leaf Change Pictures. We have two good Sunset pictures so far and one Leaf Change Picture, maybe two.Put some description in on the pictures so we know where we are, what we are looking at and where we are going...Thanks,mjac

Got to Edit This: Working Day Pictures are just as important.

Korina

Okay, I see they're not in exactly the same spot; looks like the summer pic is closer, maybe level with the sign.

Have you tried gunpowder green? It's pretty robust. I prefer black teas myself, but they all have different health benefits.

mjac

Yes Korina, Gun Powder Greens seem to fit the bill, But What Are Good Brands? I want the first custom tea I get to be very good compared to the store bought brands I have been drinking.

A guy named Mr._Bill responded to the question and said the summer picture is taken a few yards up past the sign and its shadow would be in the picture if it was not hidden by a damaged tree. I have not looked at it yet

mjac

Harry and Meghan want to talk to you. They did not put on this big show for no one to hear about it.

What do you ride by the way?

MNebiker

mjac:

Yes, slightly different angle, but both pix of same location: Medicine Lake Regional Trail just north of the Bass Lake Road tunnel. Local trail system is great asset to the area, and gives the feeling of riding through woods but in an urban setting.
Fall pix is typical - trail sometimes completely covered with leaves - pretty, but real slick when wet.

mjac

Amazing. I wonder if you purposely took two pictures of the same location in different seasons. I have to look up those locations to se what state it is in. We have no change of color like that down here, that is why that looks so dramatic.

Can an you move the Trail System down here?

MNebiker

Pix are of trail in Maple Grove, MN, a NW outer ring suburb of the Twin Cities. Trail is part of the Three Rivers Park District, and runs through several communities, connect several parks, and links up with other trails that could take you all over the metro area. I ride about 1/2 mile to a trail access point and from there could ride the whole system. No traffic, and since I'm retired I ride on weekdays when the trails are almost empty. I avoid the crowds on weekends unless the weather kept me off the trails during the mid-week.

Yeah - I did the "Two Seasons" pix thing to show some relatives what the area was like.

mjac

Well you did a good job. The Trails get crowded on weekends, people use them? It is beautiful. There is nothing like that around here,how did ya'll end up with such an extensive trail system? I never thought about the leaves being slippery though. Just that they looked good. Thanks for the pictures,mjac

KenCT

The LBS sponsored rides go through a few rural towns near here, very nice in the fall.

Korina

Try Upton Teas and Silver Leaf Tea Co.

mjac

I will look into them.

Miele Man

I often ride to Paris, Ontario and when I do I usually pick up the rail-trail that starts in Cambridge, Ontario and runs to Hamilton, Ontario. I'll ride that trail unless it's really busy or in winter the snow gets too deep to make riding the trail enjoyable or the ride to Paris too long in time.


A section of the Cambridge to Hamilton (Ontario, Canada) rail-trail.

Another section of the rail-trail.

Still heading south and now looking to the left.

This is about 12 km from the Cambridge end of the trail

Turtles live in here.

In spring you can see the turtle eggs holes and where some foxes dug some up.

A cool ride to Paris, Ontario on the rail-trail

It was a good bike but has since died.

A nice spot to take a break at.

Cheers

mjac

That is one interesting trail.

cyccommute 

A rather random selection of various Colorado rides

Carpio Sanguinette Park aka “The Poop Park”. It’s a sewage treatment plant that was converted to a park.

Untitled by Stuart Black, on Flickr

Along Clear Creek which is a major bike path here in Denver

Untitled by Stuart Black, on Flickr

Highline Canal

Untitled by Stuart Black, on Flickr
Untitled by Stuart Black, on Flickr (from the saddle)

Hell’s Gate west of Hagerman Pass

Untitled by Stuart Black, on Flickr

Hagerman Pass

2020-01-26 16:51:13 by Stuart Black, on Flickr

And Ivanhoe Lake

Untitled by Stuart Black, on Flickr

Ivanhoe Lake and Hell’s Gate are on the Colorado Midland railroad. Hagerman Pass is a wagon road that predates the railroad.

Fantasy Island in Tucson, AZ. Precision is paramount here

image by Stuart Black, on Flickr

mjac

You are the second guy who posted pictures of riding in the snow. How deep of snow can you ride in practically?

Nice Trails.

BobbyG

I commute year round. For snow I have a drop-bar mountain bike. With 26x1.65 studded snow tires. I have ridden in fresh snow up to 5" deep, but from a PRACTICAL standpoint, 3" of fresh snow is my limit for commuting because over 3" my forward progress is too slow, about half my usual average speed. (Although last winter I rode to work one morning in 4 to 5 inches of snow...I didn't want to risk putting my car in harm's way.)

In deep snow my 45-minte commute time can double if the snow is really wet and heavy. Once the snow is packed down it may add 30% to my time, so it's about an hour. The more bare pavement, the faster I go.

While smooth ice is not too great a problem with my lightly studded tires (Suomi Nokian W106), lumpy ice really slows me down, due to the bumpy nature, and the slickness as the tires may contact the ice off-center and higher on the shoulder of the tire above the lines of studs. There are more heavily studded tires for that kind of riding. This winter, on one of my routes, there was a two-mile run of side streets full of lumpy ice that stayed for two weeks. That was unusual as snow below 4" usually melts after the first sunny day in Colorado Springs. My guess is the snow gets packed by cars, but not enough traffic to wear the snow down to the pavement. The sun softens the snow, but it then refreezes after sundown. The days are really short round Christmas and this is repeated day after day during a time of year where I hit those streets at sunrise, while thy're still frozen, and after sunset when they've re-frozen.

While I've never ridden a fat tire bike on snow, from what I've read, they are good for riding over snow as opposed to cutting through it like narrower tires. But even fat tires need studs for ice.

There was one winter about 27 years ago when I rode in 6 inches of fresh snow on unstudded knobby tires, 26x2.25 i think, that was mostly me falling down in the snow due to lack of forward progress. I was 31 years old and thought it was hilarious. Now at 58, I'd still give it a go, just not on the way to work

mjac

Not being in a snow area I had no idea people rode in significant snow. I thought there would be concern with not being able to see the road surface and its problems and obstructions. That is interesting that a fat tire can ride on the surface of snow and not have to cut through it. Not on fresh snow though huh?

What is the difference between a studded tire and a knobby tire?

BobbyG

Wow, having grown up around snow and always living around snow, I never thought about concerns regarding not being able to see the road surface and it problems and obstructions. It's really not an issue for me since I commute on pavement and on familiar roads. When the snow is really packed, or icy, that is the riding surface. When the tires do manage to cut through to the pavement it's a lot more secure. I don't know about off-road or trail riding in the snow.

As I said earlier, I haven't ridden a fat-tire on snow, but from what I have seen and read on the internet, I believe fat tires will float over powdery snow, just like they do sand.

Knobs are a function of tread design. Studs are just small metal points added to a tire to help grip on ice. While my studded snow tires have a deep tread pattern, it is a smoother design for smoother riding on pavement, as opposed to blocky, knobbie tread patterns which are better overall for deep snow.

Here's a link to my tires:
https://www.amazon.com/Nokian-W106-S...a-571628797615

Also, just like snow and ice tires for cars, good winter tires for bikes are made with compounds and materials that stay softer in colder weather. Here's a close up photo of my tires.

By comparrison, here is a more aggressive tire with more knobs and more studs.

By the way, I learned all of this on bikeforums, which has been a godsend for making my bike riding and commuting better in every way!

mjac

With the pot holes and street conditions around here there is no way,no way, I would ride these streets if I couldn't see the street surface because it was covered with snow.

Those are some wicked tires. I guesse people really do bike in icey, snowy conditions up north.

Look up thread, Miele Man posted about riding a long trail in snowy conditions. He said the same thing you did. He avoids real deep snowy conditions, not because he can't ride it, but because it slows him down too much.Having to plow through it I guesse.

cyccommute 

8” to up to 12” of dry snow like we have here in Denver is doable but difficult. I have to gear down, spin fast and lean way back to keep going. The more snow, the harder and slower the going. The Moots picture was taken in about 8” of fresh snow. It is equipped with studs. The Dean picture was taken about a week after the Moots picture and the roads were mostly clear. That bike has just knobs. For fresh snow knobs work fine but they perform less well on ice.

The worst problem is the tracks that cars pack in new snow. Over time, they will pack the road from curb to curb and that makes the riding a bit easier. However, when the snow is new, they pack narrow tracks that are difficult to ride. If you slip off the tire track, the bike digs into the snow and slows you done. Trying to get back up on the track is difficult. I’ve found that suspension helps a lot in that situation. That’s the other reason I was riding the Moots in that picture. It has suspension front and rear (only a tiny amount in the rear). The front suspension allows the tire to climb back up out of a rut that would trap a rigid fork. The rear suspension squats the bike and provides traction.

There is an ideal snow depth for riding. 3“ to 4” of fresh snow on a cold surface (so it doesn’t melt) can be magical for riding.

mjac

It is possible to ride in 8" - 12" of snow? I had no idea. I didn't think you could ride in snow at all.

Thats the the question I wanted to ask BobbyG. There are snow conditions, like you said 3" to 4" of fresh snow, that are fun to ride, not only doable,but a lot of fun? Like I asked BobbyG, what about pot holes and obstructions in the street you can not see under the snow?

Wilmingtech

I am blessed that I have a job that not only allows me to travel but I often get time to ride in many places around the country. This past year I got the chance to ride in Boston, San Diego, Glacier Park, San Francisco, San Jose and a few more. While I have many pictures of all those rides I will keep it on topic and post pics of regular rides I get from home.

Miele Man

It depends on the type of snow and how far you want to ride. Did you know that the Innuit have 100 different words for snow? The worst snow to ride in in my experience is the wet packing type of snow you'd use to build a snowman. It gets into the knobs of the tires and sticks and then slips. Keeping the front wheel pointed where you want to go can be quite challenging. Thats when a cut -down wooden ski/fender comes in very handy. Rotate the ski so that it's under the front tire, strap the skit to the tire and add a bracing rod so the ski doesn't go around and voila control is much easier. Or you can buy a front ski attachment and a ski-doo like rear drive Ktrack for your bike and get into some really serious snow riding.


Ktrak drive



Ktrack rear drive and front ski



Commercial front ski for fatbike


https://newatlas.com/avalanche-snow-...in-bike/37973/ Concept snowbike



Cheers